Twitter lit up on Sunday night (May 8) when Kendrick Lamar finally dropped new music from his forthcoming album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. Titled “The Heart Pt. 5,” the song is a continuation of “The Heart Series,” which began in 2010 with “The Heart Pt. 1.”
The track came with a visual produced by Kendrick and Dave Free of pgLang in which K. Dot morphs into six different (and sometimes controversial) pop culture figures, including OJ Simpson, Kanye West, Will Smith, Jussie Smollett, Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant.
Created by Deep Voodoo, a studio run by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the nearly six-minute affair finds Kendrick rapping that coincides with each person.
As Kendrick morphs into Nipsey, he raps, “And to the killer that sped up my demise/I forgive you, just know your soul’s in question/I seen the pain in your pupil when that trigger had squeezed/And though you did me gruesome, I was surely relieved/I completed my mission, wasn’t ready to leave/But fulfilled my days, my Creator was pleased/I can’t stress how I love y’all/I don’t need to be in flesh just to hug y’all.”
Every Verse Kendrick Lamar Has Dropped Since 'DAMN.'
Reactions to the song and video have been overwhelmingly positive, and several of Kendrick’s rap peers have weighed in — from Lupe Fiasco and Hit-Boy to Denzel Curry and G Perico. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is expected to arrive on Friday (May 13). Until then, check out some of the reactions below.
I can’t. This man is 1 of 1.
NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT HOW THE VIDEO WAS SHOT IN 8K. TRULY A NICE FEAT FOR THOSE WHO APPRECIATE MODERN TECH.
I mean, almost everything is recorded in 12k and 16k. At least anything that’s commercial. So 8k isn’t that big of a deal, considering small Sundance films are doing 8K as the standard.
Diff for music videos lol. There are still major artists uploading 1080 or lower. Black panther rollout was notorious for this. Peep the All the Stars video.
Will smith not mentioned
This song slaps
yeah but Chris Rock better stay away or Willdrick Smithmar slap him harder than before
When real hip hop shows it’s face ✊?
Song is terrible